By Ismail Auwal
The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has expressed its extreme commitment at promoting indigenous content in the telecommunications sector.
This was made known by the Executive Vice Chairman, Professor Umar Danbatta while delivering a keynote address at the maiden Virtual Policy Implementation Assisted Forum event (PIAFo) on the National Policy for Promotion of Indigenous Content in the Nigerian Telecommunications Sector. Prof. Umar Danbatta, said this will enable the Commission to deliver on the stipulated targets in the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP) 2020-2025.
According to him, the Commission has developed a licensing framework to enable infrastructure companies (INFRACOs) roll out optical fibre cables for communications in the 774 Local Government Areas that make-up the Federation. The Commission also ensures full utilization of spectrum for deployment of services through Re-farming, Re-planning and Auctioning.
“With the constitution of the NODITS, the industry should expect new Guidelines and Regulations bothering on indigenous content, local manufacturing of telecom equipment, outsourcing of services, construction and lease of telecoms ducts, succession planning in the telecoms sector, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, etc. as the need arises”, said Prof Danbatta, who was ably represented by the Team Lead, NODITS, Engr. Babagana Digima.
The EVC added that the Commission has already constituted a standing licensing review committee that is currently examining all its licenses. He said this is being done not only to reflect the current realities of technology and development but also to consolidate, bundle or un-bundle individual licenses or even create new licenses.
He said other Departments within the Commission are equally saddled with responsibilities that help to inculcate indigenous participation in the telecom sector.
“Efforts being made by the Research & Development and Licensing Departments are worthy of mention in that regard. Under the auspices of the Research & Development Department, the Commission has sponsored research efforts in several universities across the country.
“Notable areas of research conducted include Development of All Weather Solar Systems For Energy Optimization in a Mobile Communications Base Stations (at Ekiti State University of Technology); Design and Fabrication of Meta-material Inspired UWB/MIMO Antenna for the 5G-Sub 6GHz Application (at Taraba State University); and “Intelligent Autonomous Multi-UAVs (Multiple Drones) Swarm Monitoring for Effective Surveillance and Situation Awareness in the Nigerian Telecommunications Industry (at Gombe State University),” he disclosed.
The EVC noted that by these activities the Commission was seeking to identify with and harness local resources in Nigerian institutions of learning for the benefit of the industry.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Chairman Organising Committee for PIAFo, Mr. Omobayo Azeez, said the forum was designed by the Business Metrics Nigeria Team to take the promises of the indigenous content policy in the telecoms sector beyond verbal commitment. “We believe we can only achieve objectives of the policy by creating active dialogue around it to ensure that individual stakeholders understand how they fit into the bigger picture and what role is expected of them to attain these objectives for the greater good of our economy,” he said.
“Our desire is to change this order of poetic policy pronouncement and prosaic execution by creating a midpoint interface between the government and private sector players, where policies can be dissected, digested and driven to effective implementation, and later appraised using measurable metrics to assess their success over time,” he added.
